RAIL ROAD METRO-NORTH RAILROAD COMMUTER COUNCIL COMMUTER COUNCIL

Four Decades of Accomplishment

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD METRO-NORTH RAILROAD CITY TRANSIT COMMUTER COUNCIL COMMUTER COUNCIL RIDERS COUNCIL MTA Implemented

1977 Advocating for MTA riders for 40 years 1979 If you were living in during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, you have vivid memories that the subways reflected what was going on in the city as it was plagued with crime, graffiti, derailments, track fires, failing signals, and cars and stations with conditions that only the brave dared to enter. Subway ridership at that time was 990 1981 million annually compared to 1.75 billion in 2016.

The years of system-wide disinvestment brought it to a near state of collapse. You had 1982 the strong sense that the “system was out of control”. In 1977, based on a recommen- dation in the MTA Management Study, former MTA Chairman Harold Fisher, created the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA, as the official voice of MTA riders. This newly formed group gave riders a platform to comment and advise 1983 the MTA on service and policy issues. Riders of the three MTA operating agencies had long complained of declining service and the lack of accountability. Thus, the PCAC undertook research on a variety of rel- evant topics (see report list at pcac.org/reports) and made informed recommendations 1985 in an effort to improve service. In 1981, with the adoption by the NY State legislature of the first MTAfive-year Capital Program plan, PCAC members and regional legislators sought to ensure the average rider had input into the plan. As a result, the New York State Legislature enacted legislation which enhanced the representation of suburban riders with the creation of three independent Councils: Com- muters Council (LIRRCC); Metro-North Railroad Commuter Council (MNRCC); and the New York City Transit Authority Advisory Council (now the New York City Transit Riders Council or NYCTRC). The PCAC has continued to scrutinize and monitor the 1986 capital planning process and its relationship to the performance of the system, and has tirelessly advocated for a stable and adequate funding source so the system would never fall into such a deplorable state again. 1988 Members are recommended by local officials to the New York State Governor who approves them to the Councils. The Councils hold monthly public meetings, undertake research projects, and maintain a support staff of transportation planning and data analytical professionals. In 1995, the New York State legislature again supported the 1991 riders by providing the PCAC with 3 non-voting seats on the MTA Board. Members are chosen by the respective councils to be their representative.

Over the last forty years the PCAC and Councils have worked with the MTA and its op- 1992 erating agencies to improve conditions for all riders. While the MTA has come a long way from the decay of the 1970s and 80s, recent events such as track fires, derail- ments, failing car equipment, overcrowding, signal failures, and drastically decreasing system reliability have made the role of the PCAC and its Councils even more crucial 1994 in representing riders.

PCAC, 2 16th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (212)878-7087 www.pcac.org 199 PCAC and the Councils Through the Decades

199 1977 - 1989 Decades of disinvestment led to the fears of a complete system meltdown in the early 1980s. With near collapse looming, MTA Chairman pleaded with Governor Hugh Carey, members of the NY State legislature, and NYC Mayor Ed Koch to take action. As a result, the legislature passed the Transportation System Assistance and Financing 1999 Act of 1981, which gave the MTA authority to issue bonds to secure the necessary funding. In September 1982, the first five-year Capital Program was enacted to bring the system up to a “state-of-good repair”. The PCAC closely analyzed the capital planning process and reported on the adequacy of the proposed projects and their financing methods. The PCAC and Councils have continued to perform this important analysis in each successive funding cycle. During the 1980s PCAC advocated for and applauded implementation of Passenger Envi- ronment Surveys at NYC Transit and the two commuter railroads, wrote extensively about the importance of securing stable financing, promoted the notion of a “City Pass”, developed ways to keep the transit from increasing, and drafted the LIRRCC Commuter Bill of Rights. Throughout the decade, the PCAC and Councils provided riders with the ability to provide input by hosting public forums with MTA Board members, an all-agency President’s Forum, and producing annual LIRR Report Cards.

1990 - 1999 The decade kicked-off with PCAC’s continued efforts to address MTA funding issues. The PCAC has always urged the city, state, and federal entities to increase and identify stable funding sources for public transit. These efforts were intensified in 1992 when a federal 2000 commitment to transportation funding emerged in the landmark Intermodal Surface Trans- portation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). The PCAC closely analyzed and monitored ISTEA and its successor bill, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

Public input at MTA Board meetings was solidified in 1995 when the PCAC gained non-vot- 2001 ing seats on the MTA Board. Our new MTA Board member Beverly Dolinsky proposed the public session allowing for public input at the start of all MTA Board and Committee meet- ings.

In 1994, after years of lobbying by the NYCTRC for an automated fare collection system, MetroCard was introduced by NYC Transit. By decade’s end, the encoded fare cards would allow volume discounts, daily, weekly, and monthly passes, and free -to-subway trans- fers. During the 1990s the NYCTRC undertook major research projects that focused on bus and subway performance, signage at stations and bus stops, station cleanliness, and service diversion notices. 2002 Meanwhile, MNRCC entered the decade advocating and eventually applauding the com- prehensive restoration of . The Council also successfully lobbied for a new operating agreement with New Jersey Transit giving Metro-North more control over West-of-Hudson service, which led to the publication of a combined West-of- Hudson (Port Jervis and Pascack Valley) schedule. Throughout the decade, the LIRRCC closely monitored railcar maintenance problems. This was the era when the LIRRCC’s LIRR Report Card results spurred a major overhaul of LIRR 200 air-conditioning maintenance practices. The Council’s oversight also prompted key changes in third-rail shoe beam maintenance. In addition, PCAC and Councils’ strongly presented recommendations to the MTA regard- ing three major initiatives: the LIRR Access project, Metro-North’s Mid- 200 Third Track Project, and NYC Transit’s East Side Alternatives (MESA) Study, a precursor to the project, as well as input on the rehabilitation of the .

PCAC, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (212)878-7087 www.pcac.org 200 2000 - 2009 By the 2000s, the PCAC and its councils won battles on a variety of issues: work began on a new Mid-Harlem Line third track; a deep- option for was chosen to minimize construction impacts; and the MTA committed to study and build a Second Avenue subway to . Due to the steady increase of and access to computer technol- 200 ogy, the PCAC called for the MTA and its agencies to finally accept customer e-mail. The State Legislature voted to expand the LIRRCC and MNRCC to include a member from each of the three New York City boroughs served by commuter rail service: and for the LIRRCC; and for the MNRCC.

Prompted by the 9/11 attacks that devastated the subway network in Lower Manhattan, 2007 the NYCTRC advocated for changes and additions to bus routes to accommodate loss of subway service in the area and highlighted the need to post timely service change informa- tion throughout the system. As part of the rebuilding effort, PCAC Executive Director Dol- insky served on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) Transportation and Commuters Advisory Council that was tasked to address the transportation priorities in Lower Manhattan. Throughout the decade, the PCAC and Councils focused largely on the need to improve customer communications and performance metrics, repair of the Tun- nels, improved commuter railroad parking availability, improved subway station conditions, 2008 system-wide ADA compliance, and implementation of the “CityTicket” program on the LIRR and MNR. The NYCTRC held bus forums across the boroughs to hear rider concerns, and the LIRRCC and MNRCC advocated tirelessly for improving customer communications and the need for both railroads to undertake cell phone courtesy campaigns. In 2005 the Transportation Bond Act was approved, which provided $2.9 billion in bonds to finance transportation capital projects, with one-half of the total funding reserved for the MTA. The PCAC hosted a public forum on the Bond Act two weeks prior to the vote. Also, the PCAC voted to support the proposed congestion pricing legislation, but the proposal never made it out of committee for a vote. The second half of the decade started off with the retirement after 25 years of the long influ- ential PCAC Executive Director, Beverly Dolinsky. The end of the decade saw the collapse 2009 of the national economy which had a huge impact on the MTA region and prompted the PCAC and its councils to spend the spring of 2009 battling the MTA’s proposed “doomsday” budget that included drastic cuts to subway, bus and rail service as well as work to ensure the system was in a state of good repair. 2010 2010 - 2017 The PCAC and Councils continued the effort begun in 2009 fighting service cuts and fare in- creases due to Albany’s draconian funding withdrawal; NYCT was forced to remove subway station booth agents before cameras and intercoms could be fully installed. Subway and bus service was dramatically reduced as was employee headcount throughout the entire MTA. Several winter storms hit the system and underscored that a lack of adequate staffing magnified the deplorable response to the events. Communication about service to riders was especially hard hit. During this time, the PCAC was actively engaged in the conversa- tion through meetings, testimony and letters, trying to prevent and then reduce the size of 2011 the funding reductions. In 2010, PCAC issued our MTA Annual Performance Review for 2009, and weighed in on a variety of initiatives, including the corridor, the develop- 2012 ment of Moynihan Station, and the Mega Capital Projects. PCAC also spent time analyzing performance metrics. The work resulted in an important research report, Minutes Matter, which described the on-time performance measures reported by the agencies and the lack of accountability for delays caused by canceled trains.

The LIRRCC was instrumental in moving the MTA to make structural changes to the cus- 201 tomer satisfaction surveys. The LIRRCC and MNRCC continued to focus on improved cus- tomer communications, especially during winter storms. The LIRRCC submitted complaints to the LIRR about unplowed station parking facilities and the shortage of LIRR parking at stations. The LIRRCC collaborated with the LIRR to draft and post a “Pledge to Customers”, and also advocated for the LIRR ban on electronic cigarettes in areas where smoking is not permitted. PCAC, 2 Broadway 16th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (212)878-7087 www.pcac.org The NYCTRC provided input to NYCT on new service diversion notices and revised perfor- 201 mance indicators; subway and bus accessibility issues; and applauded the installation of luggage racks on bus routes serving airports based on their suggestion. In 2013, the Council released Bridging the Gap: It May Be Further than You Think!, where the Council assessed subway station boarding-area platform gaps and made recommendations to the MTA Office of ADA Compliance to improve system-wide wheelchair accessibility.

The PCAC released The Road Back: A Historic Review of the MTA Capital Program, in 2012. The report highlights the 30 years of political, financial, and infrastructure challenges of re- building the system. In 2013, the PCAC released MTA in the Age of Big Data, promoting the usefulness of data analytics to assist MTA decision makers and public stakeholders.

In 2014, PCAC partnered with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in a series of roundtable dis- 201 cussions with regional stakeholders focusing on the need to invest in the MTA network. The high-level collaboration resulted in the report and website Keeping NY on Track: The Impor- tance of the MTA Transit Network in a Changing World.

Recent Council highlights include: LIRRCC’s push for legislation to establish parity between pre-tax benefit limits for commuter parking and public transit; MNRCC’s successful call to have MNR cross-honor West-of-Hudson riders on the Hudson line and provide shuttle follow- ing service disruptions caused by the Hoboken train crash; and NYCTRC’s continued efforts to 201 implement the Freedom Ticket pilot program to institute lower railroad within NYC with a free transfer to NYCT subways and buses. The impact of the 2010 budget cuts have come into play this year as substantial infrastructure failures have wreaked havoc on subway service, and these failures have been easier to quan- tify with the release of NYCT’s Subway Performance Dashboard. PCAC staff and the Transit Center have advocated for and worked with NYCT staff to create the dashboard and improve the metrics with the Train Travel Time and Customer Wait Time measures, which have been great enhancements to the existing indicators. The newly visualized data provides NYCT management with improved tools to guide their decisions, help make the case for secure and sustainable funding to invest in the system, and much needed transparency for public stake- holders. 2017

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD COMMUTER COUNCIL

PCAC and Council Reports

METRO-NORTH RAILROAD COMMUTER COUNCIL Mark Epstein (Chair), Gerard P. Bringmann (Vice Chair), Sheila Carpenter, Owen Costello, Michael Godino, Ira Greenberg*, Raymond Pagano, Bryan Peranzo, Larry Rubinstein LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD * MTA Board Representative COMMUTER COUNCIL NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL Randolph Glucksman* (Chair), Orrin Getz (Vice Chair), Francena Amparo, Richard Cataggio, Francis T. Corcoran, Rhonda Herman METRO-NORTH RAILROAD * MTA Board Representative COMMUTER COUNCIL

Andrew Albert* (Chair), Burton M. Strauss Jr. (Vice Chair), Stuart Goldstein, Christopher Greif, William . Guild, Marisol Halpern, Sharon King Hoge, Trudy L. Mason, Scott R. Nicholls, Edith M. Prentiss NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT * MTA Board Representative RIDERS COUNCIL PCAC, 2 Broadway 16th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (212)878-7087 www.pcac.org